Facts, No Filler, About Fat Injections.

As a person ages, the soft tissue in his or her facial skin begins to sag. That sagging shows the effect of a number of different factors: gravity, exposure to the sun and repeated movement of the underlying muscles. Such sagging can be eliminated by the inserting a filler under the skin.

Fat can serve as soft tissue filler. Fat injections can restore smoothness to an aging face. Fat injections change a face in a moderate but pleasing manner. They do not create the dramatic changes that one can get with a chemical peel, with dermabrasion or with a laser treatment.

A patient who is thinking about getting fat injections should realize one very important fact: Injected fat is not permanent. Injected fat is eventually absorbed by the body. A patient, who wants to maintain a smooth face, needs to get repeated fat injections.

A surgeon can not predict how long any injected fat will remain under a patient's skin, before becoming absorbed by the cells that are in contact with that fat. Five different elements contribute to the "staying power" of any injected fat. Those five elements are the patient's age, the patient's genes, the patient's skin quality, the patient's lifestyle and the site of the fat injection.

Before initiating the procedure for fat injections, a physician evaluates the extent to which the patient's face is suited to the planned procedure. The physician normally seeks to learn as much as possible about the patient's medical history. The physician needs to know about any allergies or skin infections the patient might have had in the past. The physician should be told of any past injuries that were especially slow to heal.

A patient might approach a cosmetic surgeon about receiving a collagen injection, only to learn that he or she must have fat injections. Collagen, like fat, can be used as soft tissue filler. Collagen can be used to smooth the facial skin.

Unlike fat, however, collagen is not a natural substance. While a patient will not reject fat taken from his or her abdomen, buttocks or thighs, a patient might well reject injected collagen. Not every patient is a good candidate for collagen injections.

A patient who is allergic to beef should not have a collagen injection; bovine products are used to make collagen. A patient with an autoimmune disease should not have collagen injections. A patient who is allergic to lidocaine should not have collagen injections.

While collagen is the most frequently chosen alternative to fat injections, it is no longer the only alternative. A number of other substances have now been developed for use as soft tissue fillers. Like fat and collagen, these substances can help to smooth the facial skin.

Fibril is one such substance. Fibril is a gelatin powder; it is mixed with a patient's blood and injected under the skin. Gortex is another type of filler. The physician inserts this thread-like material under the patient's skin. Fibril and Gortex provide patients with two other alternatives to an autologous fat transplantation.